Last April, our Show & Tell blog ran an infographic about beards, and it gave a brief history of beards, and how women found full-bearded dudes to be two-thirds as attractive but 51 percent as cheerful as clean-shaven dudes. But the graphic neglected to address what effect a beard has on a guy's ability to rock. Houses frontman Andy Hamilton recently snipped off one of the most righteous beards in town, and he's now rocking one sweet, sweet 'stache that's equal parts Lorax, Yosemite Sam and Sam Elliott. In honor of this momentous occasion, we present you with the ten best (and sweetest) rock beards in Denver.

8. Me, Jon Solomon Part of the reason yours truly was tapped to pen this here list is because, well, as Backbeat's resident beardo, I know a thing or two about beards. I've got a fairly decent one going most of the time, save for the occasional trimming of the whole thing every six months or so whether I need to or not. The occasional wash and comb keeps it in check so it doesn't look too scraggly when I'm rocking out in a polyester nun habit.

7. Andrew Warner of Snake Rattle Rattle Snake and Bad Luck City Andrew Warner can usually be seen sporting the Shel Silverstein look of shaved head and beard, which is often clean and precise, like his drumming.

6. Scott McCormick of Boulder Acoustic Society and FaceMan As one gal commented on Facebook, this photo of Scott McCormick made her think of Jim Henson, and the keyboardist does resemble the Muppets creator.

5. Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo Over the years, Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider has sported various lengths of beards, but the dude usually seems to keep it in check without getting too crazy. While Schneider technically receives his mail elsewhere these days, he'll forever be associated with Denver.

4. Luke Fairchild of Git Some/Kingdom of Magic One of the most frenetic frontmen in town, Luke Fairchild also sports one of the burliest and badass beards in Denver. Dude keeps it tight and long, and it's every bit as imposing as his bands' heavy live shows.

3. Eric Fuller of To Be Eaten Fuller's beard is so thick it looks like a few beaver tails stacked on each other. The thing is rugged and heavy-duty, just like To Be Eaten's music. There's a good chance that if something got lost in there, it might be a while before it resurfaces.

2. Rob Burleson (aka Number 3) A drummer for numerous local acts over the years, including, most recently, Lion Sized, who called it quits earlier this year, Burleson no doubt keeps his whiskers in check, and he even won an award for best beard at last year's Denver County Fair. Since Burleson looks like he combs his beard quite a bit, he's probably got the best-groomed one of the bunch.

1. Andy Hamilton of Houses Sure, Hamilton might have recently trimmed everything but the mustache, but he still gets the number-one spot in our books for a legendary beard of near-ZZ Top proportions that had to have been many, many years in the works.

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